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Acer Seeks to Regroup With New CEO, Job Cuts

The worst market for personal computers in history claimed another victim today: J.T. Wang, CEO of Taiwan-based manufacturer Acer, is resigning. He’ll be replaced by the company’s president, Jim Wong.

The news came as Acer announced a $446 million loss for the third quarter, and said it would fire seven percent of its workforce. That amounts to nearly 550 people out of a total headcount of some 8,000. The move should save about $100 million a year.

Acer has been taking the decline in PC sales especially hard. In a quarter when global PC sales slipped by nearly eight percent, according to the latest market tally by research firm IDC, Acer’s unit sales fell by more than 34 percent year on year. Today it is the fourth-largest PC vendor in the world, after Dell and ahead of AsusTek.